Brownback, Davis differ on meaning of economic figures

Gov. Sam Brownback's administration says recent state tax collection figures are positive, but his presumptive Democratic opponent, Paul Davis, has a different view.

Davis says the plummeting tax revenues and increasing unemployment rate are signs that Kansas is lagging because of Brownback's policies.

"Gov. Brownback's `real live experiment' is not working," said Davis, the House minority leader from Lawrence.

Earlier this week, the Kansas Department of Revenue said taxes collected during the first quarter of the fiscal year were slightly less than expected.

Of the $1.37 billion in taxes collected from July through September, the figure was $8.5 million, or 0.6 percent, below projections.

A dip in corporate tax revenue may have been caused by businesses investing more than expected in machinery, which receives tax breaks, the Brownback administration said.

"We believe that all of these numbers show that Kansas businesses are investing and citizens are spending more money," Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said.

The $1.37 billion collected during the first quarter was $135.8 million less than what was collected in the first quarter of the last fiscal year. That's a 9 percent decline.

Such a decrease would have set off alarm bells in previous years, but this was expected. That dip is the result of the income tax cuts signed into law by Brownback, which he has said will spur the economy, but which Democrats have said will underfund essential government functions and favor the wealthy.

As far as spurring the economy, Kansas' unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in August, which is lower than the national rate of 7.3 percent. But the national rate has been declining this year, from 7.9 percent in January, while the Kansas rate has increased from 5.5 percent over the same time period.

The Brownback "reasoning" lauding lower tax collections and higher unemployment are "Laff"able in so many ways.

Businesses were supposed to get lower tax rates in order to invest in workers, bringing higher employment and larger tax collections. So, now, it's good that businesses are investing in "machinery" rather than workers? Great. So what do we do now that businesses are investing in machinery that makes human workers more superfluous than before? We call this a good thing.

"We believe that all of these numbers show that Kansas businesses are investing and citizens are spending more money," Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said. How in the name of all that's mathematically right does lower tax collection mean that consumers are spending more? Businesses are paying NO taxes, so the consumer must be paying a lot more to even come close to predictions. That makes no sense, as tax collections as a whole are down by tens of millions year over year. That means something positive?

Nationally, the unemployment rate is declining, but Kansas' rate is up. This is a good sign of what? The only good sign for Kansas is that the people who are "supposed" to be investisng in the human side of business are paying fewer tax dollars, and the people are paying more of the taxes that are being collected. In other words, the Brownback plan is working: money is flowing from those with less to those with more. In the meantime, state services for ALL are being recuced, the state is raiding well-run, profitable or at least self-sustaining, areas (see Kansas Turnpike Authority, Medicaid) for dollars to make up for short-sighted, reckless cuts in human services and education..

As a voter, who has proven his citizenship, by the way, I call on every elegible voter in the state to actually take part in the process of electing those who truly care for our state. Remove the governor who, through various farm entities, is one of the larger recipients of federal aid in the state. Remove the radical knee-jerk reactionaries who speak for no ongoing process but the "Christianization" of government. Remove those who owe their entire existence in state government to those who have bought them.

It makes no difference if you're Democrat or Republican (the Republican of the past, when Republican was not synonymous with "me, me me, and Charles") because what makes a difference is individual thought rather than the group grope that passes for politics in this country now. I don't care if you vote Brownback if you can truly see a way that his "leadership" is going to make life better for all Kansans. (And good luck with that....)

Just think, then vote. The odds are that the thinking voters will be felt much more strongly than those who vote by feel. And we can take Kansas back again.